Good news: So far, so good. It does appear that the Saffire interface (at least my 1st-generation 18i8 model, connected to the controller via standard MIDI cable) must be the cause of the frequent crashes.

Since last evening I've had the VPC1 controller connected directly to the iMac via USB. So far there haven't been any crashes since switching to this setup. Even the usual triggers such as putting the Mac into sleep mode, or turning the controller keyboard off and back on, haven't caused a crash so far.

I'd still like to know whether the hundreds of crash reports sent over the past few months were received by VSL, as this would be important for debugging any future issues. Can anyone confirm?

Looks like I might have found the culprit! It might be an issue with the Focusrite Saffire's MIDI in (via standard MIDI cable). Mine is a 1st-generation 18i8. Maybe it goes into a power saving mode and causes a problem with Synchron on wake? This wouldn't explain every case, though, since often it crashes at random while playing Synchron.

In any case, I've now connected the Kawai VPC1 directly to the iMac using USB. The Mac has gone into sleep mode and woken up, yet Synchron so far has not crashed with this setup.

The only downside with this setup is that it costs me a USB port, but I can live with that small limitation if it means Synchron won't crash all the time.

It would still be helpful for VSL to look at this case, and I'd be grateful for any relevant info. I can keep you posted if the software crashes with this setup, but so far, so good.

Pressed a MIDI key. This time I tried plugging the VPC1 directly into the iMac via USB.

After an apparent MIDI glitch, I powered the Scarlett 18i8 off and back on. Synchron no longer recognized the MIDI device (VPC1), even though the 18i8 to which it is connected was still shown in Synchron settings. Something about this process triggered another crash.

Another crash upon pressing a MIDI key. It had just worked a moment ago.

Synchron crashed this time the moment I loaded it and pressed a MIDI key. Kawai VPC -> Saffire 18i8 (1st gen.) via standard MIDI cable (not USB). Turned on VPC this time after loading Synchron.

Thanks, Paul. Could someone at VSL perhaps confirm that you've received my hundreds of crash reports over the past half a year or so? I'm guessing there must be at least 500. I started posting some screenshots here in case they're not received for some reason. This crash behavior has persisted through different macOS and Synchron versions. FWIW, I'm using a pretty high-end and well-maintained system, so I can't think of any hardware or software that might trigger this problem.

Another crash after idling, then pressing a MIDI key

Another crash. Steps to reproduce: Load Synchron, wait a couple minutes, then press a MIDI key.

Another crash upon pressing a MIDI key. Synchron had been running in the background but macOS did not enter sleep mode and the screen remained on.

Another crash upon pressing a MIDI key. :-( This time the Mac was woken from sleep mode, yet Synchron (surprisingly) worked. However, after taking a minute or two to reply to the VSL thread, it crashed again as soon as I pressed another key.

Hi Paul,

The program (almost) always crashes immediately upon pressing a key on my MIDI controller (Kawai VPC), attached via MIDI cable (not USB) to a Focusrite Scarlett 18i8 (1st generation). Often not playing for a minute or more seems to trigger the crash: As soon as a key is pressed again, Synchron crashes. Other crashes are purely random and occur while playing.

I've sent crash reports every time for months, so you should have literally many hundreds of them by now!

Another crash today.

Here's another crash report. Posting here in case submitting it through the software doesn't work again.

Today Synchron crashed in some unique circumstances. I'm posting the screenshot here in case it didn't get transmitted for some reason.

Here's yet another random crash.

Here's another crash... this must be around 20 crashes today alone.

Here's yet another crash report that just happened. Literally Synchron Pianos crashes about every few minutes when I'm using it, and this is on a state-of-the-art modern system (Core i9, 64GB RAM, all SSD's, etc.).

Could you at least confirm that you received the crash report in the screenshot a few minutes ago?

VSL should have literally hundreds of crash reports from my system. I've sent at least that many.

P.S. Literally Synchron Pianos crashed yet again the moment I pressed a key on my MIDI controller, after sending the last reply. I'm trying to attach a screenshot but "Attach files to this post?" doesn't seem to be doing anything in my browser (Safari). In any case, VSL should have received about a dozen crash reports from my system so far today alone.

Hi Andreas,

The replies to a totally unrelated pre-sales inquiry hardly count. ;-)

But I've emailed support multiple times, and beyond a single initial reply asking for my system ID, I've heard nothing despite multiple additional requests.

There must be something seriously wrong with Synchron Pianos, not just the crashes but also the crash reports. For months, every single time the app has crashed, I have written a comment and sent it to VSL, and I have always included my email address for followup. My comments have sometimes included requests to kindly reply, but they seem to go into a black hole.

Literally I must have sent about 500 crash reports from my system. I've always used the email address registered with VSL, so they must have gone somewhere. Can you please double check and look for my email address, not just the system ID? (Maybe the system ID changed when I upgraded to macOS 11?)

Many thanks.

Hello,

I'm afraid Synchron Pianos crashes constantly on macOS 10.x and 11.1. I've sent literally hundreds upon hundreds of crash reports to VSL, always including my email address, and opened up a case (#396143). Despite many continued polite requests for a reply, beyond an initial reply, I've heard not a word from VSL for many months now.

Note that I use the standalone player on a Core i9 iMac and keep all software up-to-date.

The software is so unreliable as to be nearly unusable. I would never be able to use it for a live performance since it is effectively guaranteed to crash at random.

I've sent full system information to VSL many times. Hoping for a sign of life and for a resolution to this critical issue.

Thanks in advance and wishing everyone a happy and safe new year.

Is there a consensus on whether the Samsung T7 would be a better choice for VSL than the T5? From what I've read, apparently the older T5 is faster at random reads. Am I right to assume that VSL libraries are stored as tons of small files, so when a preset is loaded random reads determine the loading speed? If so, this would imply that not only is the T7 not worth the price difference, but the older T5 would actually perform faster for this application. (I'm using only Synchron Pianos.) Thanks in advance for any insights.

Originally Posted by: johnstaf

I just thought I'd add that the read speed (as shown in the Synchron players) for the T7 is slower than the T5. If I run other tests, the read speed for small files is again below that of the T5.

In actual usage the T7 seems to perform very well.

I've been eyeing a 2TB T5 or T7 but am wondering whether the theoretical speed improvement of the T7 will translate to faster real-world performance. I'd be using the USB-C port on a 2019 27" Core i9 iMac. Should I just get another T5 then?

Hi Paul,

I was about to start a thread to request silent keys for all piano libraries, as this is really an important property of acoustic pianos. Happy to discover others have mentioned this, so as a classical pianist who uses this feature "in real life," I'd like to add my voice too.

There are numerous instances in the piano literature in which we depress a key silently and then hold it using the sostenuto pedal for instance.

A simple albeit temporary workaround would be to require a minimum velocity level (something sufficiently greater than 1 in order to emulate an acoustic piano) to produce a sound. Even if there were no sympathetic resonance as a result, this would still be far preferable to hearing a sound no matter how slowly a key is pressed.

Hopefully this small feature can be implemented soon.

Kind regards,

Albert

P.S. Loving the new Bösendorfer Imperial—many thanks.